The present invention relates to an adjustable, rotatable gun rest adapted for use in a deer stand or other tower structure above the ground. The basic concept of a gun rest is quite old in the art of firearms. Gun rests are commonly used to firmly support and hold a rifle or other firearm in order to avoid unwanted movement while the marksman prepares to fire and then fires the weapon. Such an aid allows the marksman to focus on aiming without being required to support the gun. Traditionally, such rests or supports permit the marksman to shoot with far greater accuracy than is possible when the rifle is held freely.
Likewise, the art of deerstands is quite old. Many types of deerstands exist from freestanding towers, to stands attached to trees, to stands that “climb” a tree. The common characteristic is that the marksman is positioned on a small platform some distance from the ground. Thus, the term deerstand will hereinafter be used to refer to all such elevated stands. The need for an adequate gun rest is as great or greater for the marksman positioned in the tight deerstand as it is for marksman firing in other situations. However, the art of gun rests designed for use in a deerstand situation is decidedly sparse and the few examples that exist are rather crude and respond poorly to the unique circumstances presented by hunting from an elevated stand such as a deerstand.
The typical ground mounted gun rest such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,066 to Canterbury provides rotation about a single axis. Such motion necessarily results in significant displacement by the body of the marksman in rotating and aiming the gun. In a tight deerstand situation, such movement is nearly impossible so a specially adapted gun rest for elevated stands is needed in the art.
The typical gun rest for an elevated deerstand is exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,979 to Seats which envisions a bar frame mounted to a tree. In such a situation, the marksman rests the gun on a bar extending radially from the tree. In such a situation, the marksman is at a disadvantage because he must slide his gun around the bar in order to reposition it. This often produces excess noise and excess movement on the part of the marksman. Such movement could also potentially damage the gun. Additionally, the bar invention provides no preferable angle towards the ground and contacts the gun at many different points depending on the target and the aim of the marksman.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for an improved gun rest that achieves the advantages of ground mounted gun rests in an elevated deerstand setting with near silent operation. The present invention addresses these long felt needs.